It's Tutorial Tuesday! No sew recycled wool projects!

I am always saying that pretty much anything you can make with fleece or craft felt, you can make with recycled wool (felted sweaters), and these 2 no-sew projects are no exception!

This first one, is a method of joining squares with slits in them. Click here to go to the original tutorial on the How About Orange blog.
craft felt, from How About Orange:


With this, you can make trivets, a table runner... maybe even a blanket! I tried it out with some felted merino, and it worked great.
recycled wool, Resweater:

The next one is a no sew blanket edging.
fleece, from Nebraska Views:
This tutorial is for fleece, but of course I used recycled wool :). Click here to go to the original tutorial on the Nebraska Views blog.

recycled wool, Resweater:

It's Sweater Monday!

I don't know about all of you, but we have been having some fabulous weather here in Illinois! We have been in shorts all week, which is unheard of in this region in March, and we have been enjoying it to the fullest... going for bike rides, hikes, playing at the park, exercising (I fast walked 27 miles last week, thanks to a friend). This is why my blog has been a little neglected, and will be a little more neglected, while this weather is here.
The thrift stores that I shop at the most are done with putting out sweaters for the season :(, but the city-wide garage sales in our area will be starting in a month. In the meantime, I have a garage full of sweaters to process, so don't fret! I enjoyed going to the thrift stores yesterday, to just look for summer clothes for my family.

Enough of my rambling! Who's ready for sweaters? :)

a couple of patterned 100% wool, a gray/blue and a brown with stripes...



Some patterned blends (funky 45% angora/40% lambswool/15% nylon [sold], peach/cream argyle 70% lambswool/20% angora/10% nylon, gray/black/rust argyle 55% wool/25% angora/20% nylon)...


some 100% wool sweaters (all big: brown, dark brown, black [like merino in thickness/texture], charcoal, taupe)...


some solid colored blends (charcoal 70% wool/20% silk/10% cashmere, tan ribbed w/ green chest stripes 80% lambswool/20% nylon, dark red speckled 88% merino/12% angora, red cardigan 70% lambswool/20% angora/10% nylon, tomato red cabled 70% lambswool/20% angora/10% nylon, lemon yellow ribbed 80% lambswool/20% nylon)...


some cashmere & an angora (felted black, felted brown, charcoal, pink cardigan, dark brown 100% angora)...


and a few 100% wool woven pieces, $5 each (hot pink jacket, green/blue/white/yellow plaid, gray/red/green [this one is 95% wool/5% nylon])...


Happy Sweater Monday!


What is Sweater Monday? It is when I show the sweaters that are being added to my inventory. This is an opportunity for anyone to "call dibs" on sweaters they see here that they want to buy. This also saves me the time of listing them all individually in my shop, so it's a win-win. To "call dibs" or ask any questions, please email me (krisnstevep@netzero.com). Pricing for individual sweaters is generally as follows: wool & wool blend sweaters $6 each, cashmere $8 (patterned, striped, & big mens cashmere $10). All exceptions will be noted. You are welcome to combine orders from Sweater Monday sweaters with sweaters in my shop. Since I seem to get the same questions about Sweater Monday, I will be posting this paragraph on the bottom of each Sweater Monday post. To see previous Sweater Monday posts, please visit Sweaters of Yore.

It's Tutorial Tuesday! Make an adorable Easter finger puppet!

I found this tutorial from Molly at The Purl Bee. Aren't they just too cute?! While her tutorial calls for craft felt, I used recycled wool felt (felted wool sweaters). If you use recycled wool, I found that merino sweaters worked best for this project, but any thin to medium thickness felted wool should do. The turquoise one is felted cashmere. The only change I made, was that the tutorial called for yarn, to make a pom pom tail, but I didn't have any on hand. I just made 2 circles with pinking shears, and sewed that on instead. I like it just as much.

To go to the tutorial on The Purl Bee, just click here!

Photo from the Purl Bee:

Warning: these are addictive to make, and you may set out to make one, but end up with 2... or 3... or 4....



They are so cute, and so fun to make! I plan to leave them out with our wool eggs, so the Easter Bunny can put treats in them.

My son requested an orange & red one...


...but this little fair isle guy is my favorite!


Well... what are you waiting for? Get hopping! Easter is right around the corner! :)

It's What I've Been Working on Wednesday

That quilt I blogged about yesterday took up most of my week's sewing time, but I managed to get sidetracked and make a couple of other things. I hate most store bought dog beds. They fall apart if you look at them cross eyed, and they always seem to be made from something synthetic & uncomfortable looking. When I found a crib bumper at the thrift store for around 50 cents, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.



Spots loves a good "nest" (she'll paw at a blanket to create a nest, unless she has a dog bed with sides). She was very happy with her new nest!

It took me less than 5 minutes to sew the bumper to the pillow, the whole thing cost under $1 in materials, and is sturdier than any dog bed that I have bought. The colors were just what I had on hand, but doesn't it look like a big egg?

I made a couple of fitted tablecloths too. My son wanted me to make a tablecloth for his table, so I made matching ones for both tables. I bought this fabric (a big rectangular tablecloth) a couple of weeks ago at an indoor garage sale for $2. The elastic I used came from a gallon sized ziplock bag packed with notions that I bought at a sale last year for $1. Not only was there enough material to make both tablecloths, but there's more left over, so each fitted tablecloth cost me less than $1 in materials. I made both tablecloths in about 20 minutes, so they didn't "cost" me much in time either. I love repurposing! I LOVE this fabric too... the pretty cheerful colors... the kitchy roosters. It's just me :). I don't know why my camera wasn't able to pick up the colors of this fabric, but it is so much more vibrant in person, and not washed out at all!



Just so this post contains something made from recycled wool, and so you don't think I abandoned the braided basket, here it is... still in progress.

I will eventually finish it.

So, what have you been working on?

It's Tutorial Tuesday! Make an easy, but awesome recycled wool quilt!

I wanted a nice looking throw blanket for the family room, to keep on the couch. I was originally going to just make one with squares and rectangles, since most blanket patterns frighten me with their intricacy. I get easily intimidated, and tend to stick to easier projects. When I saw this quilt, The Beekeeper's Quilt by Tiny Owl Knits ...



... I loved the look of it, but that quilt is made of hand knit "hexipuffs". I don't know how to knit, so I made one with felted wool! I printed this hexagon, that I found online, and used it as my pattern. If you want to be done quicker, you can use a bigger hexagon, like this one, but then you can't utilize much smaller scraps.

I learned as I made this that the stiffer felted wools worked best for this. Felted cashmere, soft angora blends, etc. did not work very well. I didn't want the blanket to be stiff either, so I found that felted lambswool worked best, but you can use just about any felted wool.

First you will want to pick your colors. I tend to gravitate toward natural colors, but this time I wanted bright & cheerful! I used mostly scraps that I had on hand, and arranged them randomly. If you are more adventurous than me, you can make patterns, like on this antique quilt, that I saw at a flea market this weekend:


For a child that loves soccer, I think this would be adorable in black & white, like a soccer ball! For inspiration on patterns, simply Google "hexagon quilt", and click on the "images" tab at the top. Apparently this isn't an original idea ;).

Molly, from the Finish Something Already blog, shared her techniques with me (& now with you!), that she used on her gorgeous quilts.

One of Molly's beautiful recycled wool quilts:

Simply put 2 pieces together and zig-zag stitch right down the line. You will want to press the pieces together a little, as you sew, so they don't move apart, and they are snuggly sewn together.




Now just keep sewing more hexagons on, until the blanket is the size & shape you want. If you like the looks of the edges, you can leave it as-is, and be done.


I wanted a more finished edge, so I cut the edges evenly...


... then folded back the edge a 1/2 inch, and zig-zag stitched it down to the back.

the back:

the front:

I ironed it with steam, to get out the ripples, and I was done.


(like my posed reading pic? Lol)

It was super easy, but be warned... this took many hours to make! I found that the end result was was worth the hours I put in though, and I was glad I was able to use up so many scraps. What do you think?

It's What i've been working on Wednesday!

I found this skirt at the thrift store, and fell in love with it, but it was a size 0. I frowned, and put it back on the rack, but then the lightbulb went off, and it went back in my cart. I resized it, by cutting off the waistband, and adding a soft, stretchy, lightly felted merino wool waistband. Now it's a size *cough* *cough*! It's very flattering on, but since I haven't shaved my legs since about October (sorry if that's tmi!), this is all I can show you right now ;).


I also wanted more fitted tablecloths, so I made 2 more this week...



I have been working hard on something else, but I don't want to show it until I am done with it. I am hoping to be done next week!

So, what have you been working on?

It's Tutorial Tuesday!

Today's topic is more of a concept than a tutorial. Use felted wool on the bottom of things you want to slide on a hardwood surface! Up until now, we were putting our newspapers in the log rack:


It doesn't look nice. I know there's worse (a lot worse!) looking messes in my house that I could have fixated on, but I felt like I had to move the papers out of there every time we had a fire, or go through them & recycle them when company came over, and I hate moving things around. I like everything to have a place, and if it doesn't, I want to create a place. In the basket under the table was a good place, but the basket would scratch the floor if we slid it.



The solution? I just cut a piece of wool to size, squeezed some wood glue on the wool piece, placed the basket on top of the wool piece, added some heavy books to the basket to weigh it down while drying, and I was done! The bonus was that I got to use a moth hole ridden piece of wool that I had previously not known what to do with.


Now the basket easily slides, and won't scratch the floor! You can do this with anything you want to be easily moveable & scratch free... bottom of planter saucers, under bed containers, etc. I have heard from some of my readers that they use small pieces on the bottom of table & chair legs.